Hats!

 

I was thinking about a theme for today and I kept thinking of the debonair Fred Astaire in his top hat that seemed to work with his elongated face. Top Hats were a staple in men’s fancy attire all the way into the 1940s. In fact, men wore hats throughout the centuries and it is only since the late 1960s that men stopped wearing hats. So, I decided to use this as a theme…

1. TOP HAT-1935

You know I would choose Fred Astaire because he made the top hat his own. He made 10 films with Ginger Rogers and this is considered, arguably, their best. Of course, this is the classic “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back” theme but it works in so many films. Fred plays a famous entertainer who irks his downstairs neighbour in a fancy hotel when he tap dances all over the room. They meet, Fred is besotted and she is equally enamoured until she mistakenly believes he is married to her best friend, the wonderful Helen Broderick. Mistaken identities ensue all the way to a wild look white Art Deco Venice. She finally gives in to his charms by dancing the most beautiful dance in the “Cheek to Cheek” with that famous feathered dress. In the end, all is revealed and they dance to their hearts’ content. This is a very funny, entertaining film with great Art Direction by Van Nest Polglase, fabulous dance numbers created by Astaire and his right hand man, Hermes Pan and great character actors like Broderick, Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore and Eric Rhodes. It’s a must-see film.

2. THE NAKED SPUR-1953

Many western stars had their favourite hats and wore them in all their western films, so I had to go with my favourite actor, Jimmy Stewart who loved this well worn hat, a brown fedora, in most of his westerns in the 1950s. I was lucky to see this hat when I visited the Jimmy Stewart museum in his hometown of Indiana, PA. And wished I could have tried it on. Anyway, in this film, he plays a bounty hunter after a killer, played by Robert Ryan. Stewart enlists the aid of an old prospector, played by Millard Mitchell ( his last role before he died of cancer at 50) and a soldier. They capture Ryan along with his girlfriend, Janet Leigh, who believes the crap Ryan told her. Ryan tells Stewart’s co-hosts that he is not a sheriff and that the bounty is not $1,000 but $5,000. Greed gets the better of everyone but Stewart ( well, a bit murky there) and double cross him. Now, Stewart must capture Ryan again but without the 2 pals..or is there a change of heart? Does Janet see the light and realize what Ryan told her was crappola? This is a gritty, but entertaining western with a hardened Stewart at his best and the beauty of the mountains and country is photographed at its best. 

3. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK-1981

This is not a favourite of mine…sorry, but true even though I love Harrison Ford and had a crush on him back in the day. This franchise (the 3rd film with Sean Connery is my favourite) started with this entertaining flick by Steven Spielberg about an archeology professor who gets himself into some great adventures usually with a couple of pals, played by Jon Rhys Davies and Denholm Elliott. It’s the late 1930s, maybe the early 40s and the Nazis are after the Lost Ark of the Covenant which, they feel, will aid in the domination of the world. In their way is Indiana Jones( Ford) who is trying to locate the Ark for himself and history. He battles natives, runs from huge boulders and has to battle Karen Allen whom he falls for, of course. Throughout the film, you find out he hates snakes and loves his hat, the famous fedora that Ford wears in all the films. It is fun and many love this film where I like it but I am ok if I never see it again. 

What films come to your mind that has famous hats?